Artist Talk: Ed Kashi, photographer

http://www.edkashi.com/

Ed Kashi is a photojournalist and a filmmaker. He is passionate about the social and political issues of the world today, which drives him to document around the world. During his presentation, he showed a few short films along with still images from his trips. The most fascinating to me was the Nicaragua photo essay. As he explored the conditions of the cotton fields, I was amazed at how many people were open to letting him photograph, especially since death was a common occurrence in their home. Ed had mentioned that with the spread of disease, there was a funeral just about every day in that town. The images and descriptions of the harsh environments of the cotton fields were very emotional. He does a very good job capturing the people’s emotions, and I also liked it because it reminds me of what I try to do in my own work, but don’t always necessarily achieve. Without the help of text, Ed’s photographs clearly tell a story, but I feel that when they are placed along with Ed’s captions, they become much more enhanced. There was a section in his presentation where he talked a little bit about his family. He had mentioned that because of all his travels, he has pretty much missed half of his daughter’s life, and his wife is was basically been a single mother for that time. He said that he doesn’t take that lightly, but I question this slightly. I’m not quite sure how I feel about artists leaving their family for the sake of art. I think that this deters the artists’ families away from the appreciation of art. I know for myself, that if my mother or father decided to disappear in order to make art, I would just become bitter and I would learn to not appreciate art. Because I started to get thinking about Ed’s family, I would like to see him do a photojournal or short film on his family.

Anderson Ranch Arts Center - August 12, 2014